Abstract This paper deals with Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams," describing it as a sample of sights and sounds of Japanese culture. The paper describes each of the vignettes in the film: "Sunshine Through the Rain," "The Peach Orchard," "The Blizzard" and "Village of the Watermills." The author describes the incredible cinematography as well as the message of each of the vignettes in "Dreams."
From the Paper "There is no greater film experience than director/writer Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990). Kurosawa brings to life his Dreams in a series of film vignettes that are extraordinary in cinematography and content. Beginning with the opening vignette, Sunshine Through the Rain, the audience experiences the colorful and clarity of the highest quality of cinematography; the audience is hooked, even though you're not the least bit fluent in the Japanese culture or language. This particular vignette focuses on a young boy who, on a rainy day, wanders into the woods after a caution from his mother has piqued his curiosity. Foxes, she cautions, have their wedding ceremonies on days when the fain falls while the sun still shines; and they don't like to be spied upon. In fact, they don't forgive being spied upon. Obviously, to a six year old boy, this is incentive enough to quickly sneak off and into the woods to discover what his mother has cautioned him against as an unforgivable transgression."
Abstract This film study analyzes the existentialism that arises within the social and individual conflicts that are found within the films "High and Low" and "Ikiru," directed by Akira Kurosawa. It analyzes the characters and their relation to the plot of these two films and thereby leads us to understand the dilemma of identity (society versus the individual) that surfaces in these existential films of the 50s and 60s.
From the Paper "This type of filmmaking is reenacting the sense of loss that the Japanese suffered after World War II, which embody a sense of rebirth for Watanabe. Kurosawa sought to bring these social issues to the forefront of filmmaking, since it offered a new way to expose the social and individual problems that the Japanese faced in their culture. By understanding Watanabe's individuality, the premise of existential freedom becomes the premise of Kurosawa's desire to liberate the self from societal norms. This is how existential philosophy plays a key role in Kurosawa's films, as he explores how it is not society that dictates social norms; it is the individual actions of insightful and brave individuals that redefine Japanese culture."
This paper analyzes Akira Kurosawa's film "Rhapsody in August", which focuses on three generations of Japanese and Japanese-Americans and how the bombings of Nagasaki affected their lives.
Abstract This paper explains that Akira Kurosawa's film "Rhapsody in August" is set 40 years after Nagasaki was bombed and the main character is Kane, a grandmother who lost her husband in the bombing. The author points out that the film shows how the people of more recent generations, the grandchildren, tend to forget the real effects of the bombing because it has no personal significance to them. The paper stresses that Akira Kurosawa's message is that the human toll of war can last for a lifetime without ever being resolved.
From the Paper "Another related issue raised in the film is the complicated relations that continue between the nations involved in war. The film shows that in theory, the war has ended and there are positive relations between America and Japan. However, there are some ongoing issues affecting people that are not as easy to manage. This is seen by the grandmother who has to struggle between accepting America and its positive relations with Japan and hating America for the actions it took that killed her husband. This is seen by the Hawaiian cousins who become upset when the grandchildren mention Nagasaki."
Abstract An examination of Western impact on Japanese film making. The author focuses specifically on Akira Kurosawa's film "Seven Samurai". The author describes the film makers use of native cinematic styles and techniques and how these go about breaking away from Japanese traditional style and adding more flavor and richer meaning to the film.
From the Paper "Referring to his film Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa once remarked, "Japanese films tend to be rather bland in flavor, like green tea over rice. I think we ought to have richer foods and richer films. So I thought I would make this kind of film entertaining enough to eat" (Criterion Collection, 2). This statement was a thinly veiled criticism of Kurosawa's contemporary and rival, Yasujiro Ozu (who actually made a film entitled The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice). Ozu adhered dutifully to the traditional Japanese cinematic style, an art heavily influenced by native culture and customs. His films (including the 1953 masterpiece, Tokyo Story) can be characterized by long takes with little or no lateral camera movement (both of which demonstrate the influence of the traditional Japanese "Kabuki Play"). Ozu also uses many extreme low angle shots that often hug the bottom surface of any set. By showing the audience this point of view Ozu reflects the Japanese custom of remaining seated on the floor of a room. While this style is certainly effective and distinct, it is as Kurosawa describes, ?rather bland in flavor.? In an era when post-war occupation was rapidly opening Japan to western industry and influence, Kurosawa made a bold decision to break from tradition and borrow some key points from Hollywood including slow motion, multiple cameras and camera angles and continuity editing. By embracing these conventions of Western cinema and combining these techniques with the traditions of his native industry, Kurosawa was able to create a unique and powerful portrait of Japan in the waning days of the samurai. Furthermore, the director employs this hybrid style effectively in order to develop his characters, build tension in the audience and drive the plot of his film forward. "
Abstract Compares Akira Kurosawa's original film and the American remake by John Sturges. Discusses style, structure, world view, cultural aspects, myths and plots
From the Paper "Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is an example of the circularity of film genres in the world cinema. Kurosawa was influenced in his samurai films by the motifs and icons of the American Western film, which was very popular in Japan as elsewhere, and in turn his Seven Samurai would become an influence on later American Westerns, notably the remake of Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven. A comparison of the two films, though, shows very different aesthetic attitudes and also very different industry structures. The Kurosawa film is an ensemble piece in which the director shapes the movement of the film like an epic ballet, while the American version is structured more as a star vehicle with a number of individual star turns to appeal to different segments of the audience.
Noel Burch notes that Japanese cinema is fundamentally ..."
Abstract This paper discusses two movies, Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and "Tora!Tora!Tora!" which is directed by one American and two Japanese filmmakers: Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, and Kinji Fukasuka. The paper analyzes the similarities and the differences of both films. Kurosawa's style of editing, cinematography and detailed performances are described. It is noted that other Japanese filmmakers also adopted Kurosawa's style. The paper provides a close look at Japanese filmmakers and their use of the modern day camera.
From the Paper "Akira Kurosawa combined many elements into his film, "Seven Samurai". Kurosawa includes many aspects of human nature into his movies. Other Japanese filmmakers took on Kurosawa's style of editing, cinematography, and detailed performances. One film, "Tora!Tora!Tora!" (the Japanese signal to attack) depicts a historical event using the narrative skill developed by Kurosawa almost twenty years earlier."
Tags: cinema, comparison, critique, japan, akira, kurosawa, skill, war, history
Abstract This paper examines the guilty party in Akira Kurosawa's film, "Rashomon". The author looks at the narratives of guilt and responsibility in this film.
Abstract This paper examines how, throughout the span of his life, Akira Kurosawa endeavored to provide his audiences with a message of morality based strongly in the Shinto and Buddhist traditions. In particular, it looks at how "Ran", which is widely acknowledged as his greatest work, has Kurosawa exploring the theme of loyalty, especially as it is epitomized with in the tenets of Bushido, the warrior's code.
From the Paper "These remarkable examples of loyalty however, must be tempered by the traitors who get caught up in their own intrigue. Leading them all is Lady Kaede, the wife of Taro. Her hand can be found firmly clasped to every other traitorous action we see. Her first act is to elevate her own position by forcing Hidetora's connubial procession to step aside so that she could make her way into the castle. Though she puts on demure and unassuming airs, we quickly learn that her black-heartedness is contagious. By asking a seemingly innocuous question of Taro, she sets into motion events that will begin Hidetora's decent into his personal hell."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that Akira Kurosawa's 'Throne of Blood' is more than just an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film is a visual feast with riddled rich symbolism. The writer maintains that it is that symbolism that makes 'Throne of Blood' so memorable. The writer notes that 'Throne of Blood' has a somewhat misogynistic tone that portrays females as socially subservient and spiritually evil. Crescent moon symbols combined with frequent intrusions from the natural world imbue 'Throne of Blood' with pagan symbolism and supernatural elements. The writer maintains that Kurosawa succeeds in solidifying this eerie atmosphere by transforming one of Shakespeare's most disturbing tragedies into high cinema.
From the Paper "Filming in black and white also suggests the moral choices between good and evil. Washizu seems incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, symbolized by the mist that clouds his vision at several points in the film. He had once remained loyal to his best friend and to his Lord. Until Asaji poisons his mind and suggests that Miki is plotting against him, Washizu's moral choices are sound. Later his choices are clouded by delusional thoughts and the central character descends into a spiral of murder, madness, and mayhem. Ironically, the witch and Asaji are both shrouded in white, which is usually a color symbolizing purity and goodness. Asaji is the most directly evil character in Throne of Blood. Her white face and clothing do not symbolize purity as much as they signify the thematic connection between her character and the witch. The witch appears bathed in white light, which emphasizes her otherworldliness. Neither good nor evil, the witch simply tells Washizu what she sees. It is Asaji who tells Washizu how he should act. Both the witch and Asaji influence Washizu and sway him from one moral pole to the other."
Abstract The paper explores the life and literary pieces of Japanese writer and poet, Akutogawa Ryunosuke who was one of the first writers of the Japanese modernist movement to be translated widely into English. The paper shows that Akutagawa is probably best known for his single short story "Rashomon", which inspired director Akira Kurosawa's film of that name in 1950. In order to understand the times in which Akutogawa lived and worked, the paper defines modernism and explains the difference between Japanese and Western modernism.
From the Paper "The stories that Akutagawa wrote and that Kurosawa adapted were in fact based on stories that had probably been compiled in the 10th century. Akutagawa would over the course of his short professional life adopt many ancient Japanese stories, seeming to prefer tales that were both Gothic and based on pre-modern elements. His settings, as grotesque and bizarre as any that Edgar Allan Poe could ever have dreamed up, would have struck his readers as standing in obvious contrast the to "civilized" state of Western-influenced 20th-century Japan."
Tags: Tokyo, Meiji, William, Morris, Arts, and, Crafts, Movement
Akira Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood (1957) is a free "adaptation" of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film has been much honored and highly regarded, but at the same time the critical reception accorded the film has raised certain questions about the meaning of adaptation, about the degree to which this film can be called an adaptation, about how successful it can be deemed as an adaptation, and about the degree to which one should be expected in making an adaptation to adhere to the text. There are clear differences between a stage play and a film, and the techniques of the playwright and the techniques of the filmmaker are quite different even when they intend to convey the same plot, the same themes, and even the same general atmosphere and tone. Even some of those critics who have praised the film for.."
From the Paper "Akira Kurosawa is widely considered not only one of the greatest Japanese directors, but one of the best in the world. In addition to his masterpieces, such as Seven Samurai, he has consistently shown his creative talents in his nearly 30 films. However, some of his films are clearly worse than others, and he has had some failures. As with all director's work, there are obvious reasons for this. He improved his filmmaking talents as he gained more experience, and of course sometimes he chose better material or more filmic subjects. Moreover, with Kurosawa, another factor at work here, his humanist political beliefs, damaged his ability to make quality films at times. Kurosawa has been described by some writers as being apolitical, and he seems comfortable with that definition. He certainly has distanced himself from the Marxist camp, in ..."
From the Paper "Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is a version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the film follows the play in general terms until the end. An examination of the opening scenes and the last scene shows how the filmmaker has approached the material and what changes he has made to achieve a somewhat different effect from the original play while remaining true to its spirit.
The opening scenes in Macbeth set the stage with a sense of doom and foreboding as well as an overlay of the supernatural. In the first scene, the three witches appear amid thunder and lightning and cast a spell over the proceedings. In the second scene, the exposition is managed as messengers deliver the battle news to King Duncan. It is in the third scene where the character of Macbeth is introduced and where the three witches..."
Abstract This paper compares styles of acting, editing, design, costumes, and camera work in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. The author considers how the performances differ, what the overall style of each of the directors is, and how they illuminated the tricky challenges of transferring language intended for the stage. The author also discusses how these elements contributed to the success of the films.
Abstract This essay compares and contrasts the characters of Lady Kaede in Akira Kurosawa's "Ran"), the Second Mistress in Zhang Yimou's "Raise the Red Lantern", and Jade Fox in Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". It explains how their domesticated role is only a facade concealing their inner struggles of grief and inferiority, which manifest in their violent, devastating acts of vengeance.
From the Paper "Many script writers and directors craftily portray the inequality of gender as the orthodox lifestyle of many Asians and Asian Americans. In Kurosawa's Ran, Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, and Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the directors illustrate Lady Kaede (Ran), the Second Mistress (RTRL), and Jade Fox (CTHD) as suppressed and domesticated Asian females in feudal society, which ultimately, this leads to an outbreak of vengeance that empowers these female characters."
